1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape drive and, more particularly, to a technical field for a tape drive that employs a single-reel type tape cassette having a tape-shaped recording medium wound around a single cassette reel rotatably supported in a case, and draws out the tape-shaped recording medium from the case by a loading device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is available a tape drive that uses a single-reel type tape cassette having a tape-shaped recording medium wound around a single cassette reel rotatably supported in a case. In such a tape drive, the tape-shaped recording medium is pulled out of the case by a loading device and taken up by a take-up reel to record or reproduce information signals onto or from the tape-shaped recording medium.
Tape drives are available in a so-called fixed head type and a so-called helical scanning type. In the fixed head type, a tape-shaped recording medium is slidable in contact with a fixed head to perform recording and reproduction. In the helical scanning type, the tape-shaped recording medium is wound around a rotating drum at a predetermined angle to perform recording and reproduction. In a helical scanning type tape drive, the outside diameter has to be increased to increase the winding space for the tape-shaped recording medium around the drum to achieve a larger capacity and to achieve multiple channels to increase transfer rate. Especially in a tape drive primarily designed for the backup of computer data or the like, as in the case of a so-called tape streamer, there is a high demand for a larger capacity and higher transfer rate; hence, a drum with a larger outside diameter is frequently used.
This, however, poses a problem in that the entire tape drive unavoidably becomes larger, although a larger capacity and a higher transfer rate can be achieved by increasing the outside diameter of the drum.
Furthermore, tape drives are also required to improve the feeding stability of a tape-shaped recording media to optimize the recording and reproduction of information signals.
In addition, according to the conventional tape drive described above, the tape-shaped recording medium is always fed while being wrapped around a drum in both an FF mode and the REW mode, and there has been a danger of damage to the tape-shaped recording medium during the feed. On the other hand, to avoid the danger of damage to the tape-shaped recording medium, the feeding speed must be reduced, adversely affecting the efforts for achieving fast feed.
If an attempt is made to feed the tape-shaped recording medium without wrapping it around the drum in order to avoid damage to the tape-shaped recording medium and to secure fast feed, then it would be impossible to form the foregoing predetermined tape path, and a tension detecting device would not operate. In this case, therefore, it would be necessary to set a higher tape tension. Setting a higher tape tension, however, would present a problem of a shortened service life of the tape-shaped recording medium.
Furthermore, in the conventional tape drive described above, different tension detecting devices are used, depending on the feeding mode, namely, a winding feed mode or a non-winding feed mode, so as to apply different predetermined tension to the tape-shaped recording medium. This means more parts are involved, with consequent higher cost, and also an extra space for accommodating the two tension detecting devices, interfering with the efforts for saving installation spaces.
In addition, when the conventional tape drive uses only one tension detecting device, and control is conducted to maintain a constant tension applied to the tape-shaped recording medium in both the fast forward FF mode and the fast reverse (rewind) REW mode, the tension control is carried out after the tape-shaped recording medium is set to be slidable in contact with the drum in the REW mode. This may cause a danger in that the tape-shaped recording medium is brought into contact with a head of the drum under a higher than necessary pressure, causing excessive load to be applied to the tape-shaped recording medium. Hence, there has been a problem in that it is impossible to accomplish highly accurate tension control, resulting in poor feeding stability.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tape drive that overcomes the aforesaid shortcomings, has a smaller size, and provides improve feeding stability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tape drive that overcomes the aforesaid shortcomings and that permits fast feed without causing damage to a tape-shaped recording medium.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a tape drive that overcomes the aforesaid shortcomings and achieves a reduced number of parts and improved stability of feeding a tape-shaped recording medium.
To these ends, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape drive having a drum around which a tape-shaped recording medium drawn out of a case is wound in slidable contact, a pull-back guide shaft for pulling back the tape-shaped recording medium, which has been drawn out by a loading device, at a predetermined position in the vicinity of an outlet of the case, and a pair of guide pins that can be moved toward or away from the drum and is positioned so that the guide pins are spaced away from each other in the circumferential direction of the drum in the vicinity of the drum when they are moved toward the drum, wherein the tape-shaped recording medium, which has been drawn out of the case by the loading device, is pulled back in sequence by the pull-back guide shaft and the pair of guide pins moved toward the drum so that the tape-shaped recording medium positioned between the paired guide pins is wound around the drum.
This arrangement obviates the need for a device for forming a tape path on an end opposite from the end where the tape-shaped recording medium is wound around the drum, and also ensures that the tape-shaped recording medium, which has been pulled out of the outlet, will be always fed along a predetermined path.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape drive having a drum around which the tape-shaped recording medium drawn out of a case is wound in slidable contact, and a tension detecting device for applying a predetermined tension to the tape-shaped recording medium under a condition wherein the tape-shaped recording medium has been drawn out and a tape path has been formed, the tape drive having a non-winding fast feed mode in which the tape-shaped recording medium is fed at high speed under a predetermined tension applied by the tension detecting device in a state wherein the tape-shaped recording medium is not wound around the drum.
With this arrangement, the tape-shaped recording medium is fed at high speed under a predetermined tension without being wrapped around the drum.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape drive having a tension regulator lever that is rotatably supported by a chassis and circularly moved in a first direction in a winding feed mode, and moved in a second direction, which is opposite from the first direction, in the non-winding feed mode, a first guide shaft provided on the tension regulator lever to apply a tension by coming in contact with the tape-shaped recording medium when the tension regulator lever is circularly moved in the first direction in the winding feed mode, and a second guide shaft provided on the tension regulator lever to apply a tension by coming in contact with the tape-shaped recording medium when the tension regulator lever is circularly moved in the second direction in the non-winding feed mode.
With this arrangement, the tension is controlled differently according to the direction in which the tension regulator lever is circularly moved, i.e., according to the feeding mode, namely, the winding feed mode or the non-winding feed mode.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape drive having a first tension detecting device provided between the drum and one reel to apply a predetermined tension to the tape-shaped recording medium in a fast forward feed mode in which a tape path is formed and the tape-shaped recording medium is fed forward at high speed, and a second tension detecting device provided between the drum and the other reel to apply a predetermined tension to the tape-shaped recording medium in a fast reverse feed mode in which a tape path is formed and the tape-shaped recording medium is fed backward at high speed.
With this arrangement, regardless of whether the feeding mode is the fast forward feed mode or the fast reverse feed mode, the tension applied to the tape-shaped recording medium is controlled before reaching the drum in the direction in which the tape-shaped recording medium is fed.